Regardless of whether we are comfortable with the speed and progress of technology – artificial intelligence, and especially robotics – is here to stay. Most folk in business or those who use Google/Amazon for personal use will also be familiar with Cortana, Alexa and Siri. These services are portrayed with a female voice and address themselves to us as our personal assistants.

The lives of our youth are immersed in high tech, and in a sense, who can blame them? Every generation has grown up with something new, so why should the millennials and those who are younger be any different?

Innovations like the internet, AI and robots were written about by authors like Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov etc. Our distant ancestors in centuries past would consider the technology we have today as magic, although innovations in clockwork automatons were a marvel to those that beheld them in the 18th Century. Things like the telegraph, steam trains and printing were innovations of their time, it has to be said. Later, came radio, television etc which has led us to where we are today in the 21st Century.

Though there are merits of technological development, there is also a dark and dangerous side. For example, pornography rules the internet and is addictive for some, and paedophiles can access images for their gratification on the dark web. Criminals use the internet for all manner of vice, hackers con people and get into their bank accounts, and there is cyberbullying, with the awful result of some people committing suicide on and offline.

As Christians, there is nothing wrong with accessing the internet and using social media, but we must be mindful of only using it for good and godly purposes.

Elon Musk (a tech innovator of our time) has warned that messing with the dark side of technology could literally be summoning a demon. The late Stephen Hawking and others have also warned about the dangerous side to technology. AI, robotics and other techs are advancing in the blink of an eye, and it will ultimately have an increasing effect on humans at home, work or at play. Unless you choose to live off the grid and go back to nature (as shown in Ben Fogle’s programmes) you cannot avoid this, even if you disapprove of it.

Since the inception of our planet, Satan has been looking for ways to usurp God’s work and replace it with it his own perverse and corrupting influence. So we shouldn’t be surprised if the devil uses high tech to achieve his aims.

We have seen fictional examples and scenarios of devilish interference on the airwaves and in the movies. Consider Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, where Hal the supercomputer decides that it will no longer take orders from humans. There is also the ‘Terminator’ movie series, where robots controlled by a supercomputer, are engaged in a war of extermination against humans. This may seem like science fiction or fantasy, however, once we have opened Pandora’s box and the contents have escaped, we cannot always undo what has been done.

So Christians, by all means, use tech but be careful, cautious and at all times pray about what you are viewing and possibly getting into.

God bless you xx.